Birthday special: Meg Lanning – The Megastar of women’s cricket

She is the only batter to average in excess of 55 and score more than 3000 ODI runs. She is the third-highest run-scorer for the Australian Women’s side in ODI cricket. Needless to say, Meg Lanning is an icon in the world of cricket and has left an indelible mark in the Women’s arena with the willow in hand.

Lanning made her international debut as an 18-year-old batting prodigy against Australia’s arch-rivals England in the year 2011. And since then, she has not looked back. The batting colossus is also the third-highest run-scorer in T20Is and has plundered 2859 runs at an average of 36.18. In fact, Lanning has the highest average among the top 5 highest run scorers in T20Is.

Lanning has an even better record as the skipper of the Australian Women’s side in T20I cricket. In the table below, let us take a look at Lanning’s record with the bat as the skipper of the Australian side in the T20I format.

From the above table, we can see that Lanning has stepped up her performance with the bat when the added responsibility of leading the side has been thrust upon her. While she averages 36.18(which in itself is a very good average), she averages an impressive 43.18 as the skipper of the Australian side in the T20I format. Also, her strike rate as the skipper is 120.38, as opposed to her career strike rate of 115.98.

The same is the case in ODIs as well. In the table below, let us take a look at Lanning’s record as a skipper as opposed to her overall record in ODI cricket.

While the batting icon averages 55.08 in her ODI career, she averages a whopping 60.93 when she has donned the skipper’s role. Also, 10 out of her 14 ODI hundreds and 11 out of her 15 fifties have come when she has led the side.

At the age of 29 (she turns 29 today), Lanning has already established herself as a colossus of the game. Here is wishing the cricketing legend a very happy birthday.